


Keep All Good Company

by DonnieTheFu



Series: Little Freddie [13]
Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Freddie Has Kids, Childhood Memories, Corporal Punishment, Cute, Discipline, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Freddie is such a good daddy, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Male Bonding, Male Friendship, Mischief, Naughty, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Punishment, Reminiscing, Spanking, Swearing, Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trouble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:00:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28778700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DonnieTheFu/pseuds/DonnieTheFu
Summary: Little Freddie and Felix reminisce in the studio about some of the trouble they got into together when they were little.
Relationships: John Deacon & Brian May & Freddie Mercury & Roger Taylor, Robert Deacon & Jimmy May & Felix Taylor
Series: Little Freddie [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1526273
Kudos: 4





	Keep All Good Company

**Author's Note:**

> I would really appreciate no criticism (constructive or otherwise), or negativity in the comments section, please. This is just my hobby that I do for fun. Thank you! :)
> 
> ***DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Any semblance between original characters and real persons, living or dead, is coincidental. The author in no way represents the companies, corporations, or brands mentioned in this work. The likeness of historical/famous figures have been used fictitiously; the author does not speak for or represent these people. All opinions expressed in this work are the author’s, or fictional.***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an edited excerpt taken from the upcoming new chapter (which I also hope to post soon) to my other story in this series – The Sons of Queen. But I also wanted to make it it’s own stand-alone thing in case someone didn’t want to have to read the whole of The Sons of Queen, because I know it’s getting kind of long.
> 
> *WARNING* there's going to be the parental spanking of a child (not abusive) in this story poor Little Freddie :( so if that's not your thing or if it's going to bother you, then you may not want to read. But there will also be some fluff to make up for it.

**March 1992 – Abbey Road Studios, London, England**

It was turning out to be a hellish day in the studio - quite literally. The heating in the studio had somehow gotten turned all the way up and stuck on the highest level. They were told that the building maintenance crew were working to fix it, but that there was currently no estimation time on when it would be repaired. Nonetheless, Little Freddie and the others were determined to get in a full day's worth of work as they were now doing the mixing and mastering - the final stage of production for the album, in which they put the finishing touches on the songs. So maintenance brought them some rotating fans which were placed strategically so as to aid in the air flow. The effect was negligible, however, and it still felt boiling hot.

"It's so fucking hot in here. I'm not kidding," Freddie complained, already sweating bullets in what felt like the 38°C (100.4°F) heat. And he excused himself outside to get some fresh air. John, Robert, and Jimmy soon followed suit, leaving Roger, Brian, Mack, Little Freddie, and Felix all sat together at the mixing board.

"Seems to me like I remember a certain young man sat at a mixing board just like this one when he was about, oh, six-years-old,” Brian smiled over at Little Freddie.

“Oh, yeah,” Little Freddie laughed in remembrance.

*******

**October 1980 – London, England**

Little Freddie’s first introduction to the mixing board had started off as a rather unfortunate incident.

“No, Mr. Russell, please don’t phone my daddy!” Little Freddie begged, tears running down his face.

“I’m very sorry, Freddie, but rules are rules,” Mr. Russell, the elderly founder and current headmaster of Wetherby School where Little Freddie and the others boys attended, told him, offering him a tissue across the desk while he held the phone to his ear with his other hand. “There, there, now, Freddie. Stiff upper lip. Surely it can’t be all that bad.”

“Yes it is,” Little Freddie assured him, sobbing into the arm of his chair. His only consolation was that Mr. Russell wasn’t phoning Mummy, as that would have been far worse.

The line rang and Phoebe came to the phone. “Garden Lodge, Mercury residence.”

“Ah, yes, this is Mr. Gerald Russell, headmaster of the Wetherby School. Is Freddie’s father available?”

Phoebe explained that no, unfortunately he wasn’t, as he and the rest of the band were currently working at Anvil Studios there in London, and he gave him the number to where Freddie could be reached. Mr. Russell thanked him and they rang off.

Meanwhile at Anvil Studios, Freddie and the others were busy working on recording the _Flash Gordon_ theme song for the movie soundtrack. The studio phone rang in the control room, which Mack answered. He gently rapped his knuckles against the pane of glass that separated the control room from the recording studio to get Freddie’s attention, and motioned for him to come.

“What is it, darling?” Freddie asked, coming into the room. 

“It’s your son’s school,” Mack told him in his thick German accent, holding the phone out to him.

Freddie took the phone from him. “This is Freddie Mercury.”

“Yes, Mr. Mercury, this is Mr. Gerald Russell, headmaster of the Wetherby School,” Mr. Russell said again. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Freddie’s gotten himself into a bit of trouble here at the school. He received a referral to my office and unfortunately, I’ve had to exclude (suspend) him from lessons.”

“What?” Freddie couldn’t believe his ears. Little Freddie had never been naughty or gotten into trouble at school before.

“If it’s all the same to you, Mr. Mercury, due to the, uh, sensitive nature of the incident, shall we say, I’d prefer to discuss it in person rather than over the phone,” Mr. Russell said to him. “I’m terribly sorry, but either you or Freddie’s mum will have to come to the school to collect him until lessons tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Freddie managed to say. Mr. Russell said his perfunctory goodbyes, and then they rang off, Freddie still in disbelief as he hung up the phone.

“Is everything alright, Freddie?” Brian asked concerned, seeing the strange look on Freddie’s face as he, Roger, and John came into the control room.

Freddie looked over at him, brow furrowed. “That was the headmaster at the school,” he said. “Freddie’s been excluded from lessons.”

When Freddie arrived at the school, he checked in at reception, and the secretary (Mrs. Russell) showed him into the headmaster's office, where it looked like Little Freddie and Mr. Russell were having their lunch together.

"Daddy!" Little Freddie cried, running to hug him. He was glad he was here, even if he was in big trouble.

“Hey, darling. What’s going on?” Freddie asked, still convinced this whole thing must be some sort of big misunderstanding.

Mr. Russell stood up and came out from behind his desk, holding his hand out to Freddie, which Freddie shook. “Mr. Mercury, I want to thank you for coming so expediently. I truly am very sorry about all of this. Freddie really is such a delight to have here at the school, and I daresay one of our best and brightest pupils. And if there were any other way around this, believe me I-”

“Well, what’s going on?” Freddie asked.

Mr. Russell cleared his throat. “Right.” He went back around his desk and sat down. Perching his spectacles on the bridge of his nose, he retrieved a piece of paper from atop his desk and handed it to Freddie. “This is the referral on Freddie, given to me by our playground monitor, Mrs. Clarke.”

Freddie took the piece of paper from him and read it over carefully. Apparently Mrs. Clarke had been supervising the playground during morning recess, when she’d noticed Little Freddie and a group of other boys all bunched up together, and had gone over to investigate. As she’d approached, that’s when she’d heard Little Freddie say-

“Oh fuck,” Freddie groaned to himself, reading these same words on the paper.

Little Freddie gasped, eyes wide, and clamped his hands over his mouth.

Mr. Russell cleared his throat again and gave Freddie a stern look. _Obviously the apple didn’t fall far from the tree._

That’s when Freddie realized he’d accidentally said the words aloud. “No, sorry, I didn’t mean-” Now it was Freddie’s turn to clear his throat. “Right, where do I sign? Just here?”

Mr. Russell gave him a pen, and Freddie signed, then handed him back the paper. Then he turned to Little Freddie. “Right, darling, do you have all your things together?”

Little Freddie nodded and got his little brown Cambridge Satchel book bag. Freddie put his arm around him and looked down at him. “Is there something you’d like to say to Mr. Russell, hmm?”

Little Freddie looked up at the headmaster timidly, playing nervously with his fingers. “Sorry, Mr. Russell,” he apologized tearfully, swiping at his eyes.

“It’s quite alright, Freddie. We all make mistakes.” Mr. Russell told him, giving him a benevolent, grandfatherly smile. “We’ll try it again tomorrow and hope for a better day.”

Afterwards, Terry drove them home, which Little Freddie sniffled through, rubbing tears from his eyes with his fist. Mummy and Daddy had already warned him three times about saying that word, and promised him a spanking if he said it again. And now on top of that, he'd gotten in trouble for saying it at school and Mr. Russell had excluded him from lessons. Freddie cast him a glance from the front seat, but said nothing.

When they got home to Garden Lodge, Phoebe and Joe greeted them.

“Well, hello, Freddie!” Phoebe said to Little Freddie. “What are you doing home so early? Are you sick?”

Little Freddie said nothing, but ran over to him crying, and buried his face against Phoebe’s soft, comforting middle. That’s when he heard his father call his name.

“Freddie, come here,” Freddie told him, beckoning him with his finger. Little Freddie came over obediently to where his father was stood at the foot of the stairs, and Freddie took him by the hand and led him upstairs, while Phoebe and Joe looked on sympathetically.

They went into Little Freddie’s room and Freddie shut the door behind them. He went and sat down at the foot of Little Freddie’s bed, with Little Freddie standing in front of him, and gently removed Little Freddie’s satchel and uniform cap and jacket, and carefully laid them aside. Then he looked up at him. “Right, so tell me what happened.”

So Little Freddie began to tell him, but he was so upset at the moment that his words were completely unintelligible. Freddie tried to work out what he was saying, but it sounded like traffic hour at Piccadilly Circus, and he couldn’t understand him at all.

“Okay. Wait. Wait. Hang on a minute. Listen, darling, you’re going to have to take a moment here and calm down a bit, alright? Because I can’t understand anything you're saying properly when you’re this upset,” Freddie told him. “I want you to take a deep breath-” he said, breathing in deeply along with Little Freddie. “-and blow it out slowly.” They blew their breath out slowly together. “There now. Better?”

Little Freddie nodded his head.

“Good. Alright, now try that again,” Freddie told him.

“Felix and I-” Little Freddie began again, a bit calmer this time.

 _He ought to have known Felix was going to make an appearance in this story somewhere_ , Freddie thought to himself. _Why was it that every time Little Freddie got into trouble, Felix was always somehow involved?_ “You and Felix-” he repeated for clarity.

“-were playing together on the playground,” Little Freddie continued. 

“Mm-hmm,” Freddie nodded, listening.

“And then he and the other boys started hitting rocks at each other with a cricket bat,” Little Freddie said.

“And what were you doing playing with rocks, hmm?” Freddie asked him.

“I wasn’t, Daddy! I wasn’t!” Little Freddie said. “I never play with rocks! Never! It was Felix and the other boys. I was just stood there watching.”

“Alright, darling, I believe you,” Freddie told him. “And then what happened?”

“And then one of the other boys accidentally hit a rock at the school, and it hit one of the windows, but it didn’t break. And Felix said, ‘Oh!’ And I said… _the f word_. But I didn’t mean to! I just said it because I thought that’s what he was going to say and I was just saying it along with him. He says it all the time!” Little Freddie recounted tearfully, beginning to get upset again.

"Mm. Okay, but you know no matter what Felix and the other boys say, YOU'RE not supposed to say that word though, right?" Freddie asked.

"Yes, Daddy, but-"

"Hang on. I wasn't finished," Freddie stopped him. "Now, we've talked about this before, haven't we?"

Little Freddie looked back at him silently and nodded his head.

"This is our fourth time now to be talking about this. And what did I say?"

"That it's a grown-up word and I'm not supposed to say it,” Little Freddie said.

"That's right," Freddie told him. "This is getting serious now, Freddie. You've been excluded from lessons and sent home from school."

Little Freddie hung his head.

"So, I guess taking away a favourite toy and your privileges for a week last time didn't work then, huh?" Freddie said, to which there was no reply from Little Freddie. "What did I tell you last time was going to happen if you said that word again?" 

Little Freddie started crying again then, but didn’t answer.

"I told you that you were going to get a spanking, didn't I?" Freddie asked, looking at him for a moment. "Alright, come here." He took Little Freddie by the arm.

"Nooo, Daddy, nooo! Please don't spank me-e-e! It was an accident! I forgot! I'm sorry-y-y!" Little Freddie pleaded in a quavering voice, tears spilling down his cheeks.

"I know you're sorry, and I'm sorry too, but you can't keep saying that word, Freddie," his father told him.

"I won't! I'll never say it again, I swear! I swear! Not ever!" Little Freddie promised.

"Okay, well I hope that's true," Freddie said, but explained that he was still going to give Little Freddie a spanking to help him remember not to say that word anymore from now on, and he leant a sobbing Little Freddie over his left knee. “Move your hand, darling,” he told him, gently removing the hand Little Freddie had put back in a desperate attempt to protect his bottom. Then he spanked him on the bottom six times with his hand, but he did it so softly and so carefully, that it did not hurt a bit. He stood Little Freddie up between his knees, and Little Freddie wiped at his eyes, confused. “There now. You’ve had your spanking,” Freddie told him, and Little Freddie instantly hugged his neck. Freddie held him close and rubbed his back, then he gave him a kiss and pulled back so that he could finish speaking to him. “But next time you're going to get a real spanking. You understand?”

Little Freddie nodded his head, wiping again at his eyes.

“But I don't want to have to do that, Freddie. It makes me very sad when I have to spank you. It breaks my heart,” Freddie told him. “But if you keep doing something even though you know it's wrong and we've talked about it and you've been told time and time again not to do it, and other punishments aren't working, then I have to do it. But even when I do have to spank you, I'm not doing it to hurt you, even though I know it does hurt. I'm doing it to teach you, so that you'll learn by it, and then you'll know that from now on, you need to listen to Mummy and me and do what we tell you to do, and not keep doing whatever naughty thing it is that you've been doing. Because Mummy and I both love you very, very much. Oooh, do we love you! You can't even imagine how much Mummy and Daddy love you. And we just want you to grow up to be a good boy, who knows right from wrong. You understand? But when you do something wrong and get into trouble, I'd much rather us just be able to sit down and talk about it together like we're doing now, and for you to listen to me and do what I tell you the first time I say, ‘Now, don’t do that again’, and there not have to be any sort of punishments at all - spanking or otherwise. So...from now on do you think you can remember not to say that word anymore?"

Little Freddie nodded his head again.

“And one more thing, Freddie-” his father told him, “-if you’re playing with Felix or anyone else, and they start doing something naughty, then you need to go and play somewhere else, because even though you aren’t doing anything naughty, if you’re stood there with them while they are, then a teacher might think you’re being naughty too and you could get into trouble also, you understand?”

Little Freddie nodded. 

"Alright, darling, then there's no need to say anything more about it, hmm?" Freddie said, giving him another kiss.

“But-” Little Freddie started to say.

“But what, darling?” Freddie said.

“What if…Mummy finds out?” Little Freddie asked, looking up at him.

“Mm. If Mummy finds out then we'll have to tell her the truth,” Freddie told him honestly. “We can't lie to Mummy about things. You know that. Lying only makes things worse and gets you into more trouble.”

Little Freddie hung his head again.

“But, I still think there’s a good chance that she won’t find out,” Freddie told him. _He also hoped Mary wouldn’t find out about it, because he had a feeling that if she did, he would be in trouble too!_ “So hurry and change your clothes then, darling, huh? Because Brian and the others are waiting for us back at the studio. And when we get there, I want you to write an apology letter to your teacher and the headmaster, alright?”

Little Freddie nodded and Freddie gave him another kiss, then helped him put away his uniform and change his clothes, and they were on their way back to the studio.

"Well, who do we have here?" Brian asked when they came into the studio's control room.

"Hello, Mr. May," Little Freddie responded politely.

"You look tired, little man," Brian said. "You been in the wars today?"

"A few wars," Little Freddie answered, and Brian smiled. Then Little Freddie turned to his father. "Daddy, I need to use the loo," he said.

So Freddie showed him where it was, and while he was in there, Freddie told Brian and the others what had happened, and that Little Freddie had been excluded from lessons for saying _the f word_ , as it were (although he left out the part about Felix being involved 'cause he wasn't no snitch!).

"Hmm, well I wonder where he learned that word from?" Brian said.

Freddie scoffed. "Well, certainly not from me, darling!"

"No, of course not," John said, while Brian just rolled his eyes.

But Freddie knew he really was the one at fault, and he felt badly about that, although he did his best not to swear in front of Little Freddie and Kashmira. That's why he couldn't be too upset with Little Freddie about what had happened, especially since he had slipped up himself and said it right in front of the headmaster no less!

When Little Freddie returned from the loo, Freddie sat him down beside him at the mixing board and found him two sheets of paper and a pencil so he could start working on his apology letters.

Freddie and the others worked on the song, adjusting and playing around with the sound, but something still just wasn’t quite right. That’s when Freddie turned to his son.

“What do you think, darling?” he asked.

Little Freddie’s mouth opened, a bit taken aback. He couldn’t believe his father and the others were actually consulting him on something as important as this. He thought hard about it, wanting to give them a good answer.

“Um…I think…I think…the drums should be louder,” he said at last, looking up to see what their reaction should be. Well they certainly weren’t going to argue with that! Queen always wanted everything LOUDER!, LOUDER!, LOUDER!…Ratty’s hearing loss later in life would be a testament to that! Since the very beginning they had always been notoriously bad in the studio for that, and their first sound engineer, a man named Mike Stone, poor chap, had really suffered as Queen kept pushing the phasers up and he kept looking at the meters and going, “Oh, it’ll never cut!” Then they gave him the added task of going over to New York or wherever and saying, “Make sure that cuts as loud as possible.” It also caused a lot of problems for Mack who received some rather strange requests from Freddie when he was looking for a certain sound he wanted – “ _I want it to sound like a shopping mall dropping to the ground!_ ” or “ _Like mountains crumbling!_ ” or “ _I want to hear a herd of wildebeest swinging from left to right!_ ” But Mack somehow always came through, seemingly able to read Freddie’s mind about what he was wanting, which was why Freddie himself called him an absolute genius (although Mack always said the same about thing about Freddie too), and also why he had been written into one of their songs – [_Dragon Attack_](https://youtu.be/_gAhvNCGK0s). _Gonna use my stack/It's gotta be Mack_ _/_ _Gonna get me on the track_ _/_ _Got a dragon on my back._

“This boy knows what he’s talking about!” Roger said with a laugh, and Little Freddie smiled.

Freddie gave his son a wink, and brought him over to sit on his knee to show him how all the different things on the mixing board worked, even letting Little Freddie move the sliders and dials himself. And after that, every time he brought Little Freddie into the studio with him, he would always try to involve him and teach him things. And now, just like his father, Little Freddie was considered to have some of the best ears in the business, especially when it came to the final touching up of songs and how a finished record should sound.

***BONUS* There are a lot of pictures out there of Freddie working at the mixing board in the studio, but these are my top three favourites.***

****

****

****

**Also, here are some links I thought you might like:**

**1\. Interviews with Mike Moran, Reinhold Mack, and David Richards about working with Freddie in the studio -** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0moHpxp-98I&ab_channel=antonio_p82  
**2\. Queen – We Are The Champions (The Studio Session) – Shows Freddie and the others working together on the mixing at the end -** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Giti4-z_g&ab_channel=Chinwonder2

 **3\. Queen – The Making Of One Vision –** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywATOmlX6n4&ab_channel=Chinwonder2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and for all the kind comments, kudos, and support. It means a lot to me and I really appreciate it. I hope you've enjoyed it. :)
> 
> Chapter 2 Coming Soon!

**Author's Note:**

> I would really appreciate no criticism (constructive or otherwise), or negativity in the comments section, please. This is just my hobby that I do for fun. Thank you! :)
> 
> ***DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Any semblance between original characters and real persons, living or dead, is coincidental. The author in no way represents the companies, corporations, or brands mentioned in this work. The likeness of historical/famous figures have been used fictitiously; the author does not speak for or represent these people. All opinions expressed in this work are the author’s, or fictional.***


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